Some Brexit supporters now say they already regret voting to leave EU
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Call it an extreme case of buyer's remorse. Even as British Leave voters celebrated a come-from-behind victory in the early morning hours following the Brexit referendum, many others are stunned by the results — and even regret their votes altogether.
One Leave voter told the BBC, "I'm a bit shocked, to be honest … I'm shocked that we actually have voted to leave, I didn't think that was going to happen. My vote I didn't think was going to matter too much, I thought we were just going to remain … the period of uncertainty we're going to have for the next couple months, I think that's just been magnified now."
Looking at the 250 percent spike in Google queries of "What happens if we leave the EU?" in the early morning hours after polls closed, The Daily Mail goes as far as to suggest that "many people may not have known exactly what they were voting for in the EU referendum." The Daily Mail added that in the week leading up to the vote, such questions were relatively flat according to Google trends.
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It just goes to show — if you shoot first and ask questions later, someone's going to end up dead.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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